Prologue
"This is the beginning and the end. The rise and the fall. Our gait will begin its saunter at the source, when the infant learns to crawl."
"She will do as a wonderful test subject." The scientist in a long, white lab-coat smiled at the small child who had just begun to learn how to crawl. The little girl smiled back and giggled, but before she could make her way to the scientist, her mother picked her up. The child had her mother's blue eyes, but the black hair on her head was reminiscent of her absent father.
"Why her? Why my daughter?" The woman held her daughter closely to her chest where the young girl started to play with the blonde strands that fell her way. "Is this because of Renard? If it is than he hasn't been here since before she was born."
"Monsieur Deverux has nothing to do with this, Madame Héloïse, I simply plan on using my own child in this process as well, and they are the same age. I would like my little girl to have a companion in that world." The man smiled at the woman and held out his arms. His smile was sincere.
"Will I be able to visit her? Or at least see her?" Héloïse asked, still unwilling to relinquish her daughter to her former-lover's colleague. She knew all about the project this man and Renard had been working on, she had read the files that Renard had left. At first she didn't believe that such a thing could exist, it was pure science-fiction, but this man was here, and that was as much proof as any.
"I will send you monthly reports. I promise you that she will never be in danger. I have created a programme, it is still in its early stages, but it will take care of her and my child when the time comes." He smiled at Héloïse, reassuring her, "I will give her the same care I will give my daughter, when her time comes."
Reluctantly, Héloïse handed her child over to the scientist, making sure to untangle the child's hands from her own hair. The small girl looked at her mother confusedly; she didn't know this man in the white coat. She couldn't speak yet, but her eyes spoke volumes for her. The child was afraid, and she understood that she was being taken away from her mother, the only person she had known since birth. The little girl started to cry.
"Shhh. It's alright darling, Maman will be watching over you. Hush, hush." The woman quieted her daughter before she looked up at the scientist. "You better take care of her, or else some files will find their way to the authorities." The woman's blue eyes sparked in slight anger.
"No need for that Madame, as I said before, I shall care for her like she is my own, as will the programme." The scientist smiled, used his free hand to adjust his glasses, and stood up. "I will send you a report in exactly one month."
"Alright…" The blonde woman sighed and slumped onto the couch, looking defeated. She stayed like that long after the man left with her daughter, long after the sun set, and long after the sun rose again.
"Please… take care of my Razia…" Héloïse prayed softly to whatever god there was before she fell asleep from exhaustion.
